Gulf bourses wilt in early trade as Brexit risk saps sentiment

Stock markets in the Gulf pushed down in early trade on Thursday after international bourses and oil markets slipped, partly because of fears that Britain might leave the European Union in next week’s referendum.

Local day traders sold speculative Saudi Arabian shares. The insurance sector dropped 0.8 percent and was the main drag on Riyadh’s index, which had edged down 0.3 percent after an hour of trade.

Dar Al Arkan, which soared last week on hopes it would benefit from building housing units as part of Saudi Arabia’s economic reform programme, fell back 0.9 percent and was the most heavily traded stock.

But Saudi Electricity, which has surged this week on news of a novel financing method for two planned solar power plants, gained a further 2.0 percent, headingd for its fifth session of gains.

Dubai’s index fell back 0.6 percent as builder Arabtec lost 1.4 percent and Dubai Islamic Bank dropped by the same percentage.

Etisalat, the largest listed stock on Abu Dhabi’s exchange, fell 0.8 percent, helping drag the index 0.5 percent lower.

Source: Reuters